LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Sodium: Acids
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Sodium azide is among the P-listed hazardous wastes regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency. As a discarded commercial chemical product, off specification species, container residues or spill clean up material, it must be managed as a hazardous waste. Dilute solutions (5% or less) managed as part of your experiment protocol can be destroyed by reaction with nitrous acid, which is freshly prepared. Massachusetts regulations do not allow sodium azide to be deactivated (treated) outside your experiment and away from the point of generation.
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Sodium hydroxide is the principal strong base used in the chemical industry. In bulk it is most often handled as an aqueous solution, since solutions are cheaper and easier to handle. It is used to drive chemical reactions and ... for the neutralization of acidic materials. It can be used also as a neutralizing agent in petroleum refining
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Sodium maintains the proper acid-base equilibrium for the proper osmotic balance. Normally it is the most abundant cation (positively charged electrolyte) in the fluid outside of the cell (extra-cellular fluid or ECF). Like all cations, sodium has alkaline properties. Sodium is of greatest importance in osmotic regulation of extra-cellular fluid balance and acid balance, as well as renal, cardiac and adrenal functions. It is needed to maintain the sodium-potassium pump, which transports sodium out of the cell and potassium into the cell. This electrical pump creates a small amount of voltage across the cell membrane and is what nerve conduction depends upon.
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Another excellent source of sodium is plants that are matured in the sunshine are high in Sodium. The acids in green fruits taste sour, but when allowed to mature the sodium content gives them their sweet taste. Citrus fruits, when tree ripened, are high in sodium, but so many of them are picked green and expected to ripen in storage that eating them may cause disturbance especially in a stomach deficient in sodium. Unripe fruit never sets well in the human stomach.
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